Radar you got a lot patient man i am glad you are around to help people like myself.
I had to increase the Latitude on SG2100 motor which is not close to what i was to have for my location from 40.3 and changed to like 41 or 42 i believe. I think its wierd that my settign should be 40.3 but when i try that it would not follow the arc.
Again thx for the help Radar
Bash,
No problem at all! I am happy to help. This hobby does require patience, but as long as you consider this as a hobby, and a learning experience, it won't make you frustrated. If you feel that you are becoming frustrated, then just take a break and back off for a while. Do some research and make some notes, but don't keep driving yourself when you are not in the proper mood. You won't get any closer to your goal, just lower on hair! LOL!
Your SG2100 motor latitude marker should be fairly accurate. As long as it isn't mangled or deformed making it hard to read, or like you stated, you are reading it incorrectly. If your site latitude is 40.3 degrees N and you are certain of this, then your latitude on the motor scale should be set there.
Do you have a dial inclinometer? You can get one for under $15 at most hardware stores. Just a round dial (degree scale) with a gravity driven pointer. If you can get this up under the belly of your motor on a good flat surface and read the degrees off the dial, you can use this information to verify the accuracy of your lattitue scale on the motor.
This is often difficult to do. It isn't easy to fit the inclinometer under the motor and read it. You may have to improvise here and I recommend that you do it with the dish and motor tube removed.
The degree you read off of this inclinometer will be the motor ELEVATION and it should match the scale on the motor that is on the opposite side from the LATITUDE scale.
The degree readings from the ELEVATION and the LATITUDE scales add up to 90 degrees. So, if you can get an accurate reading of the elevation using the inclinometer on the belly of the motor, you can calculate what your latitude scale on the motor should be reading.
90 - ELEVATION = LATITUDE.
Doing this will allow you to check the accuracy of your motor's latitude scale and pointer, to make sure you are setting it correctly.
On another note, something else that may be throwing you off is the attachment of your dish to the motor tube. There can be some play involved here. When the dish bracket is loosened, the dish can be twisted on the motor tube somewhat. The vertical axis of the dish must line up perfectly with the vertical axis of the motor tube.
If you position the motor to zero degrees or right at the center position, and check the plumb of the dish bracket with your level or the inclinometer, you should be able to align this. There is also a seam along the motor tube's axis that you can eyeball with the vertical axis of the dish to line this up in a rough or crude sense.
Does this all sound logical to you? I am not confusing you here, I hope.
Make sure that you are making all your initial adjustments at:
74.0W HORIZONS 2
Ohio News Network (ONN)
TP 11.734 POL H SR 6.616 SL 87% QL 90%
SAT ID BANNER = MPEG-2 Encoder
VPID 0033 APID 0034 PPID 8190
This is as close as you can be to your true southern satellite. You want to make all of your initial alignments here because this sat will be the highest in the arc from your reference point. Once you have 74W dialed in well, select the satellite, transponder and channel below:
72.0W AMC 6
Gospel Broadcast
TP 12.144 POL V SR 2.573 SL 81% QL 94%
SAT ID BANNER = Unknown Network
VPID 0033 APID 0034 PPID 8190
And adjust your dish elevation to peak this signal. Then, select the satellite, transponder and channel below:
79.0W AMC 5
KTEL
TP 11.900 POL H SR 2.170 SL 81% QL 94%
SAT ID BANNER = Unknown Network
VPID 0049 APID 16436 PPID 0049
And adjust your motor azimuth to peak this signal. Then Return to 72W and adjust the elevation to peak the signal on the Gospel Broadcast channel.
Then return back to KTEL and adjust the azimuth to peak the signal. Keep going back and forth until you cannot improve the signal any more.
Next, go further east to:
63.0W Estrela do Sul
SCETV FEEDS (Channels 301-310)
TP 11.694 POL V SR 11.280 SL 80% QL 65%
SAT ID BANNER = SCETV
CH 301 VPID 0070 APID 0068 PPID 0070
And adjust your dish elevation to peak the signal as best you can. This may be much weaker than the previous sats and channels, don't worry, just peak it as best you can, but remember to only adjust the dish elevation.
Now, move to:
83.0W AMC 9
AMC 9/3F
TP 11.769 POL H SR 4.232 SL 83% QL 87%
SAT ID BANNER = NBC News Channel
VPID 4130 APID 4131 PPID 0054
And adjust the motor azimuth. Go back and forth between this sat and 63W and repeat the procedure (elevation adjustment at the east sat, azimuth at the west sat).
You can continue going further east and further west in this manner until you have the arc mapped well. This procedure should make up for the fact that you do not have a satellite perfectly positioned due south of you at 76W and you had to use 74W to start with.
The CEO of DMS International (Tim Heinrichs) reported this technique on January 4th 2008. This is the company that manufactures and imports the SG2100 motors.
There is a lot of information to digest and I am only addressing a few items. I hope that my information is beneficial to you. There are some points that are not normally presented in a HOW-TO manual anywhere, little items that can make a big difference if you are not aware of them. I wish that the little details that I inform you of help to fill in some of these gaps.
Good luck and have fun!
Radar
